SCOTS children as young as FOUR are being told to address staff with gender-neutral pronouns by their school teachers.
The titles being used are terms for people who identify as non-binary – neither male nor female regardless of their sex.
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Children as young as four are being encouraged to use the terms including ‘they’ and ‘them’ when talking to classroom staff.
According to the Daily Mail, studies amongst Scots councils have found that at least 86 school staff, including teachers, and support staff have been recorded as using the pronoun ‘Mx’ rather than Miss, Mrs, Ms or Mr.
Of these staff, 73 were found to be working in secondary schools, with 13 in primary education.
The City of Edinburgh Council has recorded the highest number of staff using the pronouns, with 44 members on record.
But numbers across the country could be even higher, as some councils don’t keep such records.
Spokespersons and advocates for children and young people have hit out against teachers encouraging children to use the language.
Roz McCall, Scottish Conservative spokeswoman for children and young people said: “These sort of fringe issues are a distraction from making sure our children are getting the best possible start in life and are not made to feel uncomfortable.”
While Marion Calder of For Women Scotland said: “Teachers should not be bringing contested ideology which has no more basis than astrology into classrooms.”
She added: “How are children to believe anything a teacher says if they lie about something so fundamental?
“What happens if a child or their parents push back?
“Will the child be disciplined for holding to science and reality?”
Parents have also voiced their concerns at the news, with their children struggling to understand the instructions they have been given, with one having her questions dismissed by the school.
One parent said: “‘My initial response to the head asking why I had a problem with ‘Mx’ was because we are telling small children something that is false – you get to choose your gender – and we are forcing a very dangerous ideology onto very young children, with no discussion with parents.”
“Also, when I asked what [pronoun] the teacher gets the children to refer to [them] as he said ‘I don’t know, I haven’t asked’.
“These are activist teachers and it should not be happening.”
Parent Watch Scotland, another campaign group added: “Titles like ‘Mx’ confuse primary school children, no one knows how to pronounce it and too many teachers use it as a conversation starter to introduce their non-binariness or ‘gender identity’.”
